The Analysis of Semantic Components and the Patterns of Lexicalization of "Discussing" Verbs in EAP Writing
Journal: Journal of Higher Education Research DOI: 10.32629/jher.v6i5.4363
Abstract
With the aim of enhancing teaching instruction in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing classrooms, the study investigates the semantic components and the patterns of lexicalization of "discussing" verbs under an EAP writing context. Eleven words related to the word "discuss" were collected from Thesaurus of the British Academic Written English Corpus. Based on Talmy’s theory of lexicalization (1991, 2000), the "discussing" verbs, as realisation event words, were categorised into four different groups according to their conflation patterns. Group 1 comprises words with the most frequently occurring conflation pattern [Motion + Goal + X], while Group 2, 3, and 4 contain verbs with the conflation pattern of [Motion + Manner + X], [Motion + Degree + X], and [Motion + Figure + X], respectively. Teaching implications drew from the categorisation of the "discussing" verbs, suggesting teachers paying attention to the semantic entities between and within each group, thus bringing learners a clearer understanding of the written context of using the "discussing" verbs.
Keywords
realisation event, lexicalization pattern, semantic component, EAP writing, SLA
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[4]Hauboeck, A., Holmes, J., & Nesi, H. (2010). The BAWE corpus manual. https://www.coventry.ac.uk/globalassets/media/global/08-new-research-section/current-projects/bawemanual-v3.pdf
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[6]Ji, Y. (2020). The Conceptualization of motion events by English-Chinese Bilingual: Evidence from behavioral tasks. Modern Foreign Languages, 45(5), 654-666.
[7]Ji, Y. (2020). The acquisition of Chinese RVCs in motion event expressions. Journal of Shenzhen University, 39(1), 49-59.
[8]Ji, Y., & Hohenstein, J. (2014). The syntactic packaging of caused motion components in a second language: English learners of Chinese. Lingua, 140, 100-116.
[9]Łozińska, J., & Pietrewicz, B. (2018). Lexicalisation of vertical motion: A study of three satellite-framed languages. Cognitive Studies, (18). 1-13.
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[13]Toan, L. N. (2020). Lexicalization patterns of path motion in Vietnamese: A perspective from cognitive linguistics. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 13(2), 96-113.
[14]Wan, Y. (2018). The analysis of the patterns of lexicalization of Chinese cutting verbs. YU WEN YAN JIU, (1), 1-10.
[15]Xue, N., & Luo, S. (2018). The analysis of semantic components and the patterns of lexicalization of English "write" verbs. ANHUIWENXUE, (1), 74-76.
[16]Zhang, Y., & Gui, L. (2017). The analysis of semantic components and the patterns of lexicalization of English and Chinese "shouting" verbs. (10), 82-85.
[17]Zhou, J., & Zhang, Y. (2016). The analysis of semantic components and the patterns of lexicalization of English and Chinese "criticize" verbs. Journal of Kaifeng Institute of Education, 36(3), 64-65.
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